Some ****t hammers his bike past our house at 3:30am nearly every day (it's a unique sound). Kids are still woken by it.
Considering how to limit that rider's options into the future…

Just want to be clear that it wasn't me. I have a dash in my name…
Good story though.

+1 GrahamS

I know in Aussie terms it's well down.
Looking back over a period of time it's been typically $2.30 or so to the pound, at the moment it's $1.63, which is a bit poo. People often hold out to $2.50 for 'a good exchange' but that's not so common.
But that's AUD and not CAD (or whatever). Talk to someone at Moneycorp if you're talking house value amounts, they're very good there. I dealt with a chap called Alex Lawson and he was good, but think he's management now or something.
Personally, I'd not exchange, but then if you need it then you have no choice do you…
And if you're serious about Canada and are going to live there for ever then it's a no brainer, get the cash and move on.

He has a lift in his home

He has at least four floors in his home 😯

Was going to say that you need a cheaper hairdresser, but looking at that travesty I think you need one with better eyesight!

;o)

It's like the reverse of Porsche…
Porsche = stretched beatle
Cygnet = squashed aston
shame they didn't go all the way and make a scrap cube, at least it could have been called art.

Stellar realignment theory

I believe that the changes we see on our world are not caused locally but are in fact the effects of a process I think of as Stellar Realignment.

…cut

This isn't about beer is it. Or cruise liners either.

Can you power it up with no signal and a black screen (i.e. unplug the sky box) – if there's something going on with the backlight then it could show up then.
I have a samsung that was a bit 'odd' but turning down the backlight a bit and upping the contrast a tad seemed to help. Or my retinas have failed in the same pattern…

Stood up to find around thirty cows ten feet away, a sort of semi-circle, all staring at me. How the hell did a herd that size sneak up on me?

That's DPM camouflage for you…

I don't ride early mornings around our local dam any more.
We get orb spiders, and they're happy spinning a web that can cover a double track through a forest (and sitting in the middle of it).
Riding through those got spiders all over me and my bike – one memorable one that I felt run down my back I swear.
Showering off cocooned flies was amusing too.

@Zokes, We're up on the Sunshine Coast. I've lived in the cotswolds my entire life so I had to move somewhere green. Turns out there's more rain here than in the UK!!!
i.e. I have a 120mm rain gauge. I've emptied it three times in the last week as it's been overflowing (and yes it's free standing with no overhangs!), and it's up to 110mm again already…
Still, once it stops raining, within 48 hours it'll be like it never rained – hell as those hours are though with the humidity. And what's more Winter is a no rain cool days affair so ideal for biking!
If you're ever up round here let me know as there's some good riding to be had, but really not advertised at all. There is a 'where to mountain bike sunshine coast' book but it's not the best.
[looks out window, more rain – too wet to ride, sigh]

Proper good quality venison.

Chorizo

Actually good thick slabs of toast with marmite/vegimite (not too thick) and a pint of milk.

Branston sandwich pickle.

Yup.
Was Andy to everyone in the UK, rented, lived a nice life spending with gay abandon…

Now in Australia, two kids, house (mortgage), known as Andrew, rarely talk to folk in the UK to be honest. All in the past 3 years.

Would I go back? Nope. Is it hard? Yes, though gets easier.
Never underestimate the culture shock, even to a place with the same language.

I'm struggling

We got these where I come from. Don't see them too often, but steer well clear of them when you do.

haha. Followed the link, it's found in Australia. Everything here is designed to kill or maim. I wonder what happened to piss mother nature off so much over here?

Class thread – STW is a mine of information.

Took a piss in the train station trough a couple of weeks back, imagine a pretty busy 10+ wide trough.
Obviously we're all eyes down, get on and get out.
Except the guy far right, who (and I wasn't about to start checking out) seemed to be 'shaking' from when I walked in to when I walked out, whilst doing a fair bit of glancing on his part.

Well, after blowing a few hours reading that other thread on here about catching criminals in the act – and generally the plod not doing munch about it, good show that they've put this chap back behind bars.
I only hope it was for attempting to nick a bike.

Wonder if the paramedics suggested that he keep drinking…

Anyway, many years ago I managed to slip down a spoil slope in a quarry, just had jeans and a T' on, and the bank was covered in nettles. Not pretty and the agony lasted a few days – stings & grazes..

The ghost of christmas past gave me some disk cleaning spray. Awesome stuff at shifting everything off the disk.
And what's more I had a crud/old cassette, it cleaned that up back to shininess too.
I think it was this stuff:
Fenwicks Disc Brake Cleaner

Is it a nicer house (the house, not the garage)? It's as simple as that. If it's not then crazy move.

Small-print is not your friend in this case.
Insurance might be…

Mark
The Premier Digital Extra sub @ £20 gets you much more than just PDFs.

That's great, and I'll happily spend that, but I won't gamble it, and not all PDFs are supported in eBooks, especially when they have rich content.
Was hoping for a simple/quick(?) test doc..

I'm using a BeBook[/url] which is a little known brand but the only one that proper shipped to Australia (and cheap). I've had it for a year or more now and it's ace.
Compared to buying the mag over here (exotic porn being cheaper*) an electronic version would be ideal.

Oh and it's not got a lower case i or an e at the start and isn't made with rounded off white plastic which is all important me.
iHate that's me…
;o)

Cheers
Andy

*Allegedly

Meh, we had play house – put it on stilts and then on a paving slab under each corner.
We did this and it's great – easy to spray off underneath and keeps bugs out.
But then we're in Australia, where even the moths are toxic…

It demonstrates your ability to learn as compared with others in your society.
The baseline to which you are graded will change as the knowledge base changes.

If you do shiat in an exam, you can expect to have a job that doesn't require a high degree of learning to function (MacD's etc).
If you get a degree first or similar, you can expect to quickly get frustrated in the same job…
;o)

There's a reasonable route (two in fact, one about an hour the other around 2-3 hours, with mega mud point) to sprint round from your in-law's place, I've ridden them many times. And whilst sections are muddy (in the Cotswolds it always is) most of it is maintained track. I've got the tracklogs if you're interested – there's nowt around you, other than bridal paths around the flatlands and lakes, not really very inspiring.
There's also some good(ish) stuff out the other side of Naunton, but I only made one worthwhile route there, and I guess there's no point in visiting that part of the world now – tracklog of that available too.
But a trip to Abingdon doesn't take long, and then there's the ridgeway and a good set of routes there – I've not mapped them, but if you're interested I could find a PC to put the SW on and build up the maps.

That mud is the reason I ended up with a winter bike, something with a cheap bottom bracket and other low-spec parts. Of course it never broke…

Andrew

Got to admit though, as trolling goes it was an excellent one liner…

I think there's a case for both…
Trail Centre – you know what you're going to get, you know it's ridable and you know 'roughly' how long you're going to be out. What's more generally they'll be good days out, certainly the riding will be good.

Natural – unknown largely, could be fire trail could be overgrown bridal path. (for me) the fun is in the OS map and figuring out where to go next. The trails can be proper hard to the point of carrying the bike. But, the reward in completing a section that's new to you is excellent.

Being in Aus it's all natural riding pretty much. And I do miss Affan etc to be honest, they were great days out. But, riding alone deep in rain forest or similar and coming across mad trail is unbeatable. Mind you, I've had my worst crashes out here – you get complacent over a non-mountain bike trail that's flowing freely, do a drop/jump and the trail isn't there any more*…! Marvelous

The one thing that is sacrilege is re-work of non-mountain bike trails to make them easily ridable. We've had this out here; trail+grader=car width flat track, i.e. boring.

Andy

* Now sporting a broken nose from just such an event.

Crazy prices – I commute for an hour an half (nearly) each way, in Aus, up the sunshine coast. Cost has just gone up to $8.30 each way. Far less than petrol, and parking is at least $18 a day if one can find it. So a bargain.

Oh and

No one NEEDS a car

You do out here.
I wager folks out in the middle of Wales aren't overly keen to lose their link with civilisation either.

I fear bears – rightly so though, they're mean sods and fast as a race horse (which I am not) and can climb trees, and have wolverine'esq claws.

Brant, you'll be avoiding this site then:
pimp that snack

we sold a car like that…
Other half's fiesta got broken into, door bent down, and in picking it up from the shop to get a quote the exhaust failed around the mid box. Basically it went from a reasonable car into a sh1t heap in the space of about a week. Then the MOT ran out and being an old car wasn't worth it.
Anyway, some lady in London bought it, caught a bus down to us then basically took the keys, got in it and drove off (I'd bungeed the exhaust up to get it home from the garage) back to London (60 miles on the m40)
Other half was all worried, so I pointed out that she'll have it far enough away by now that she wouldn't be able to push it back!!!
— we got good feedback —
We were so expecting to sell it for parts!

If I open the door to someone, but don't move, i.e. block access past me into the house – is it assault if they forcibly move me (even a shove?). Seems that a balif could easily gain access if they just knock on the door and you're not expecting them…

Nice and clean. though I don't like the graphics on the forks – but that's not your problem really, would be nicer without the red I think. Is it sacrilege to remove fork logos (or even possible?)

Not read all the replies (will do) but have you got a peer who you can talk to. When I landed 'my dream job' ™ it turned into hell on earth pretty fast thanks to the company owners being complete ****ts frankly. Talking about to a co-worker (at the same level) did help, but ultimately I lasted just 8 months, long enough to have it on the CV without too much oddness. Talking to someone else there may give you perspective over what's going on.
Good luck!

Still laughing at the dolphin comment…
Class.

Have been riding in Cotswold mud with some tioga mud tyres on, and the guy I was riding with had something more normal. We swapped bikes at one point as he couldn't believe how much better off I was in the mud… So for me, mud tyres in the winter for sure.
Normal riding – meh, not really noticed a great deal of difference between tyres other than going max with some high rollers – they were just too fat and sticky for me.
Nowadays I stick with 2.1's, not so big these days but more than capable. Have a range of tyres on bikes in that size.

Cheers all. One wonders about one's creations and whether others will see the beauty…
@Dorset, not yet completed last night, and today has been a family day – need to get a few pics done for sure.
And that green beast is mad. Not sure I'd want to pedal that rear wheel though, the 2.4's on mine are bad enough!

Got mine from here[/url] which is in Aus (as am I). But have a search for banana seat, I'm sure there's someone local who will have one… Sometimes on ebay too.
Was tempted by a full height sissy bar and back rest, but bike had to be something that could be ridden without too much crazy.

heh, no worries. not my first choice of frame for this for sure. And mid build it had a girle saddle on it with risers. Looked excellent… Now, well, comments say it all… including yours ;o)

@lyons – if by the fact it's a canondale, yeah, fair enough I'd have used something else had I had it.
But, that bike had been sitting in bro-in-law's mum's garage for over six years unridden. When he gave it up (he's in the US now and a lifestyle change etc) I rescued it and used the group set on one bike, servicing it as I went. Then put together this bike, but in doing so haven't abused the frame at all, it'll build up to a 'proper' bike some time in the future. And like this it'll get ridden most weekends with luck!